The Kellogg School of Management and the School of Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University are co-sponsoring this breakfast discussion for education leaders, entitled “Organizing Schools for Change with Tony Bryk.”

The SESP community is invited to attend the event, which takes place at Wieboldt Hall, 340 E. Superior, on Northwestern’s Chicago campus. The session will run from 8 to 9:30 a.m., with a continental breakfast starting at 7:30 a.m. Cost is $20 per person.

Bryk will comment on a study by the Consortium on Chicago School Research that found that the way schools are organized and how they interact with their communities can make a difference. The researchers found five essential supports for school improvement:

• A coherent instructional guidance system

• The school's professional capacity

• Strong parent-community-school ties

• A student-centered learning climate

• Leadership that drives change

Before becoming Carnegie’s president in 2008, Bryk held the Spencer Chair in Organizational Studies in the School of Education and the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University. Previously he was at the University of Chicago, where he was the Marshall Field IV Professor of Urban Education and helped found the Center for Urban School Improvement, which supports reform efforts in the Chicago Public Schools. He also created the Consortium on Chicago School Research, an alliance of research groups that study urban school reform. His current research interests focus on the organizational redesign of school systems and the integration of technology to enhance teaching and learning.